Pioneer will offer an audio/video receiver this year with built-in HDBaseT technology, which ships an HDMI signal up to 328 feet over thin, inexpensive CAT cable to an HD display, the company told TWICE.
Pioneer is the first component-audio supplier to confirm plans for such an AVR.
Pioneer displayed an HDBaseT-equipped AVR at the InfoComm booth of the HDBaseT Alliance, but Pioneer declined to specify a price, specs, number of HDBaseT outputs or specific ship date. A spokesman did say an AVR with the technology would be available this year but declined to specify if more than one AVR would become available.
HDBaseT technology is capable of sending HD video sources through a single 100-meter (328-foot CAT-5e/6 cable along with multichannel digital audio, Internet, control signals and up to 100 watts of DC power, the Alliance said.
Current AVRs with HDMI outputs could be connected to expensive HDMI matrix switchers costing thousands of dollars to extend the HD video signal over long distances.
A still-lower cost option is to use an HDBaseT transmitter and receiver pair with an AVR. Their retail prices range from about $200 for low-cost models sold on-line to about $350 to $500 for “quality units,” HDMI switcher company HydraConnect told TWICE.
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